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It's too bad he keeps putting the fourth line on the ice at all, though.

not a lot.. Gazdic played 4min, Brown 5 and Acton 6 against MTL.
That line seems lost at times but is hardly the problem. They have yet to allow a goal against when on ice and all are +1 on the season.
Gazdic has 3 fight wins under his belt and Brown has found a way to lead the club in hits with the 6 mins of ice time he gets.

on the flip side .. 'the big 4' are a combined -16 over the first 4 games with Nuge being -4 in 2 games.

I like the use of the star players getting big minutes. I like his use of the 4th line. I just don't understand the initial love of Smyth. To his defence, he did put him in the PB for one game, and cut his minutes drastically. The players seem a little lost at times, which could either be a coaching issue, communication issue, or the fact that they constantly have new coaches and systems all the time. Overall good, but it's tough to give him a great rating with the team losing and only playing so many games.

I mean, it's lose/lose, but Belanger and Petrell were both better at their jobs.

Yes 100% I would take Acton over Belanger.

Belanger was useless. Not only that, he was apparently a d-bag.
Petrell was a better hockey player that Gazdic sure (*edit: well some nights) but he really didn't help us win games and did not intimidate anyone physically. Gazdic is the perfect guy for that spot.

Belanger was useless. Not only that, he was apparently a d-bag.
Petrell was a better hockey player that Gazdic sure, but he really didn't help us win games and did not intimidate anyone physically. Gazdic is the perfect guy for that spot.

Petrell was often high on the team in terms of hitting if memory serves. On top of occasionally pretending to be able to kill a penalty and at least managing to fool much of this board that he was actually good at it.

I'm also not sure who anybody on the Oilers is capable of intimidating if Lars Eller still attempts to break Hall's neck after staring at his number for a couple of seconds.

When guys like Brown and Gazdic are on the ice the other team doesn't seem to be thinking about anything other than the scoring chances they're about to get.

I've liked most of what he's done, it's just up to the players to go out there and do it. One thing I dislike is how he keeps going back to Smyth and Yakupov is like a lost puppy trying to find a home. He's just not getting the system. It's much too early to know for sure what will happen. Ask me again 25-30 games in.

The team should have beat Winnipeg, lost in Vancouver horribly, got lucky against NJ and I do feel they deserved the game last night against Montreal. So, they should be 2-2 at the moment which isn't the end of the world. I think the team will get better as time goes on or they could fall flat on their faces and get destroyed on this upcoming trip.

What scares me is that they aren't even facing teams in their own division yet (minus Vancouver). I was hoping or am hoping they have a respectable record in the first month because when it's all said and done, then comes games in their own tough division.

Petrell was often high on the team in terms of hitting if memory serves. On top of occasionally pretending to be able to kill a penalty and at least managing to fool much of this board that he was actually good at it.

I'm also not sure who anybody on the Oilers is capable of intimidating if Lars Eller still attempts to break Hall's neck after staring at his number for a couple of seconds.

When guys like Brown and Gazdic are on the ice the other team doesn't seem to be thinking about anything other than the scoring chances they're about to get.

What Eller did is never going to stop anyways. Gazdic could have easily made Gorges leave on a stretcher too just from a clean hit. That's what I like to see. You want guys looking over their shoulder or giving up on loose pucks because some monster is skating down on them. Give it a month and guys won't be so sure of themselves when on the ice against him.

It's a bit too early to be making definitive judgements on Eakins imo. I like what he's been preaching, but unless we go 1-20-0 or something I don't feel any need to panic. It's going to take the players a while to adjust to his system, and we all know how many coaches we've been through in the past half-decade. We need some stability behind the bench.

I love that three of his best players are all top 5 in ice time in the entire NHL. Jason Gregor was taking earlier today about how we essentially have 7 top 6 forwards with the amount of time those forward have been given.

If we are going to lose, we are going to lose with our best players.

I heard Yak's mom called him and gave him an earful for not playing her boy more. Damn hockey parents!